April 27 2012

It happens every spring. New York Yankees pitching great Ron Guidry arrives at the Tampa airport to pick up Hall of Fame catcher and national treasure Yogi Berra. Guidry drives him to the ballpark. They watch the young players. They talk shop. They eat dinner together and tease each other mercilessly. They trade stories about the greats they have met along the way. And the next day they do the same thing all over again.

As every former ballplayer can appreciate, in that routine, every spring, there emerges a certain magic.

"Driving Mr. Yogi" is the story of how a unique friendship between a pitcher and catcher is renewed every year. By turns tender and laugh-out-loud funny, and teeming with unforgettable baseball yarns that span more than fifty years, this is a universal story about the importance of wisdom being passed from one generation to the next, as well as a reminder that time is what we make of it and compassion never gets old.

Harvey Araton joined the "New York Times" as a sports reporter in 1991 and became a national columnist in 1993. He is the author of many books, including "When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks." Harvey's work has also appeared in the "New York Times Magazine," the "New York Times Book Review," "ESPN," the "Daily News," and the "New York Post."

April 21 2012

From the beginning, 1968 was a season rocked by national tragedy and sweeping change. Opening Day was postponed and played in the shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral. That summer, as the pennant races were heating up, the assassination of Robert Kennedy was later followed by rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But even as tensions boiled over and violence spilled into the streets, something remarkable was happening in major league ballparks across the country.

In vivid detail, "Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball, And America, Forever" tells the story of this unforgettable season -- the last before rule changes and expansion would alter baseball forever -- when the country was captivated by the national pasttime at the moment it needed the game most.

Tim Wendel is the author of nine books, including "High Heat," "Far From Home," "Red Rain," and "Castro's Curveball." A founding editor of "USA Today Baseball Weekly," he has written for "Esquire," "GQ," and "Washingtonian" magazines. He teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University and has appeared on CNN, ESPN, SiriusXM, and NPR , and recently served as an exhibit advisor to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Join Tim -- our first returning author to the Clubhouse Event Series -- in this fascinating evening...